In an effort to improve the overall performance of a vehicle while also reducing the mass of the vehicle, the number of speed ratios available through the transmission is increased. This permits a more efficient use of the engine operating range while also reducing the size of the engine. The increased number of speed ratios allows for a higher low gear ratio which will result in a reduced size torque converter.
The number of forward speed ratios in power transmissions has increased from two to five over a number of years. Many of the five speed transmissions incorporate two or three interconnected simple or compound planetary gear sets and five or six selectively engageable clutches or brakes. These transmissions quite often include one or more bridging clutches when two interconnected planetary gear sets are utilized. One example of this type of power transmission can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,102 issued to Coffey on Nov. 3, 1998.
Currently many manufacturers are considering increasing the number of ratios to six or seven. These transmissions generally contain three planetary gear sets. One such transmission is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,623 issued Mar. 30, 1976. This prior art transmission incorporates four interconnected planetary gear sets, three clutches and four brakes when more than five speed ratios are to be attained. Another known six speed transmission is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,927 issued Jan. 31, 1978. A six speed planetary having two simple planetary gear sets is disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 09/383,429 filed Aug. 27, 1999 and assigned to the assignee of this application.